Middleman vs Pencil
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Middleman | Pencil |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 62 · Good |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Ruby | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,111 | ★ 5 |
| First released | 2009 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, WordPress | Jekyll |
What are Middleman and Pencil?
Middleman
Middleman is a static site generator using all the shortcuts and tools in modern web development, including templating, asset pipelines, and helpers. Its blogging extension turns it into a full static blog engine.
- Asset pipeline
- Blogging extension
- Helpers and partials
- Static output
Pencil
Pencil is a static site generator library and tool written in Haskell that compiles Markdown and templates into a static website. It gives developers a programmatic way to define site structure and content transformations.
- Haskell library API
- Markdown rendering
- Template inheritance
- Static output
Middleman vs Pencil: key differences
Middleman is written in Ruby, while Pencil is built with Haskell. Licensing differs — MIT for Middleman versus BSD-3-Clause for Pencil. Pencil is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Middleman. Middleman is the more established project (first released 2009), while Pencil arrived in 2017. Middleman has the considerably larger community, at 7,111 GitHub stars versus 5.
Why pick each one
Choose Middleman if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 7.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Ruby
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Pencil if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Middleman or Pencil better?
Middleman is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Pencil if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Middleman and Pencil free and open-source?
Yes. Middleman is licensed under MIT and Pencil under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Middleman and Pencil with Docker?
Middleman: check the project docs for container support. Pencil: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Middleman or Pencil?
Pencil has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Middleman. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.